Linglong 'progresses' production, distribution plans in Europe

Hanover, Germany – Linglong Tire has started to produce “significantly higher quantities” of tires at its European plant in Zrenjanin, Serbia, the company’s leadership has informed dealers.

The announcement was made to an audience of around 100 business partners attending Linglong’s European distributor partnership conference 2024 in Serbia.

After truck tire production started “successfully” last year, passenger car tires have also been produced since the start of 2024, noted a 19 March Linglong release about the event.

“New production lines were opened in the factory parallel to the dealer conference, so that significantly higher quantities will now be produced for the European sales partners,” Linglong reported.

The new output, it said, included Sport Master, Comfort Master and Grip Master C/S summer tires as well as the all-season pattern Grip Master 4S – all developed at Linglong’s R&D centre in Hanover.

Emphasising the importance of the European production location, CEO Wang Feng said Linglong would focus “more on the needs of European traders and the special features of the European markets.”

Targets, he added, include “the introduction of new products and the expansion of the Linglong product portfolio, new services and further investments in the Linglong brand.”

As part of the dealer event, a Linglong Tire flagship store in Serbia was opened in Belgrade, with plans for additional stores across Europe also announced.

As ERJ reported in 2018, the €860-million production plant in northern Serbia is slated to produce 13.62 million radial tires per year: 12 million units of passenger car tires, 1.6 million units of truck and bus tires as well as 20,000 off-the-road tires.

With over 19,00 employees worldwide, Shandong Linglong Tire Co. Ltd has seven manufacturing bases worldwide: five in China – at Zhaoyuan, Dezhou, Liuzhou, Jingmen, Changchun – and two overseas plants in Thailand and Serbia.